Election '09 tests not boding well for Obama -- Republican declared winner in Virginia gubernatorial race WASHINGTON - Heading into an important midterm election year, President Barack Obama and his party were getting some troubling news Tuesday: Republicans wrested political control of Virginia from the Democrats on Tuesday, while in New Jersey exit polls showed unpopular Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine locked in a close race where independents were heavily favoring his Republican challenger.
Republican Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell’s victory in Virginia over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds was a triumph for a GOP looking to rebuild after being booted from power in national elections in 2006 and 2008. Republicans also won the races for Virginia attorney general and lieutenant governor.
The outcome was a setback for the White House in a swing state that was a crucial part of Obama’s electoral landslide just a year ago. The president had personally campaigned for Deeds.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33597807/ns/politics-more_politics

The only interesting race today is that NY 23rd race, where the wingnut crazies got so bad the Republican nominee Scozzafava endorsed the Democrat. But that's just an indicator of the insane people running the asylum.

Virginia is a Republican state.

But that's just an indicator of the insane people running the asylum.

Um, didn't Obama already run? Like back in '08?

This is going to be very harmful to Obama and limit his ability to implement his redicules ideals on clear thinking Americans.

Seems that the top 3 seats up for re-election Virginia went to Republicans.
Some say this is one of the first big signs other than the polls that people are losing faith in Obama's and the party.

Is this test of Obama's approval or not?

Um, didn't Obama already run? Like back in '08?

GOP sweep: Big governor victories in Virginia, NJ
WASHINGTON – Independents who swept Barack Obama to a historic 2008 victory broke big for Republicans on Tuesday as the GOP wrested political control from Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey, a troubling sign for the president and his party heading into an important midterm election year.
Conservative Republican Bob McDonnell's victory in the Virginia governor's race over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds and moderate Republican Chris Christie's ouster of unpopular New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was a double-barreled triumph for a party looking to rebuild after being booted from power in national elections in 2006 and 2008.
The outcomes were sure to feed discussion about the state of the electorate, the status of the diverse coalition that sent Obama to the White House and the limits of the president's influence — on the party's base of support and on moderate current lawmakers he needs to advance his legislative priorities.
His signature issue of health care reform was dealt a blow hours before polls closed when Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid signaled that Congress may not complete health care legislation this year, missing Obama's deadline and pushing debate into a congressional election year.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Maine voters weighed in on same-sex marriage in a closely watched initiative, and New York and California picked congressmen for two vacant seats. A slew of cities selected mayors, and Ohio voted on allowing casinos.
The president had personally campaigned for Deeds and Corzine, seeking to ensure that independents and base voters alike turned out even if he wasn't on the ballot. Thus, the losses were blots on Obama's political standing to a certain degree and suggested potential problems ahead as he seeks to achieve his policy goals, protect Democratic majorities in Congress and expand his party's grip on governors' seats next fall.http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_election_rdp

Interesting comment when you consider that the last time a Republican won the governor race was in 1997

Interesting stats on VA seems they have had only 5 Republican governors since 1886..and then now Hmmmmm

The country has seen what the road to socialism, higher taxes and more social welfare,huge government welfare and buyouts are leading. The obama bought GM, Banks etc...now he is going to cook his own goose. THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH LIBERALS....

Actually what the country has seen is what happens when the republicans are at the helm, no one has to speculate on what happened under President Bush. War and economic turmoil, maybe they need a quick refresher a reminder of what happens when the republicans run the show.




The facts are that the majority of people still think that President Obama is doing a good job, why? Because he is.

VA and NJ Elections: Obama World Stayed Home
Howard Fineman
This election was as much about who didn't show up as who did. Obama World took the day off. As a result, the races in Virginia, New Jersey and New York were largely left to the old school -- older white folks -- and they yanked the results back in their own (generally conservative) direction.
If this was a rebellion we were watching, as some Republicans suggested, it was a rebellion of an antique America -- in both the literal and figurative sense -- against the dawn of a demographically and perhaps philosophically new country.
I don't have much exit poll data in hand (they are very tight with such things over here at NBC, where I cam camped out), but from what I can glean, the minority turn out in Virginia and New Jersey was relatively light -- certainly compared with the tsunami of 2008. (There are few persons of color in the North Country of New York State, where a House special election also drew attention.)
It's also clear that the electorate this November skewed old, certainly compared with last year's Obama inspired crowd. In Virginia, for example, 22 percent of all voters last year were under the age of 30. This year, only 10 percent were that young. Conversely, only 11 percent of the electorate was over 65 in 2008; this year, 21 percent were seniors.
Like everyone else in America, older, traditional Americans care about jobs and the economy. But they were also far more likely -- according to other recent polls -- to be rather skeptical of the health-care reform plans put forward by Obama and his Democratic allies on Capitol Hill.
The AARP notwithstanding, many older Americans view health-care reform as a threat to what they hold most dear: Medicare. And while legislators insist that they want to protect the popular program from long-term bankruptcy, seniors aren't living in the long term. When they hear that reform would mean $500 billion in cuts in Medicare spending over 10 years, they freak out.
Extending medical care to tens of millions of Americans who don't have it -- many of them younger and Hispanic and living in the South and West -- is not the top priority of the older folks living in the suburbs of Richmond and New York.
On the other side of the street, the president and his allies have yet to deliver to younger and less well off voters who supported him and them last year. The "stimulus package" hasn't delivered many jobs (except to teachers and bureaucrats); billions have gone to preserve welfare and unemployment benefits that already existed (and so Obama doesn't get much credit for preserving them); the ranks of industrial jobs continue to shrink; the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan drag on.
This was an election at low tide, but Obama -- surfer dude that he is -- needs to remember that there is a beach beneath the waves, and it can cause you pain if you are not careful. http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/11/03/va-and-nj-elections-obama-world-stayed-home.aspx

Looks like some are saying that Obama just was not able to get the voters out that he got out in 2008.

From some of the demographics of the people who voted in VA and NJ it seems that many of the people who voted for Obama in '08 did not vote in '09.

It seems that Obama has landed with a clunk as far as the '09 elections go, which is how it seems many media outlests are reporting it.

that Obama should have been concentrating on the economy but its seems as if his dreams of somehow being the HCR hero have overshadowed the state of the Economy.

Obama Election Defeat Termed 'Astonishing'
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 11:16 PM
By: David A. Patten
The Obama freight train that has been steamrolling American politics ever since his election one year ago ran squarely into a political brick wall Tuesday night, as Democrats suffered stunning setbacks in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races.
The big surprise: New Jersey, a blue state where Obama invested significant political capital by pulling out all the stops to try to put incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine over the top.
The president personally campaigned for Corzine three times, taped "robocalls," and sent his vice president to make two more appearances.
Yet despite the president and vice president repeatedly putting their personal prestige on the line, and despite a $10 million Corzine advertising advantage, the incumbent was unable to turn back the wave of dissatisfaction with the economy and high property taxes.
"There is a reason Obama went in over and over in Virginia and New Jersey," Wall Street Journal columnist and author John Fund told Newsmax. "He was worried what this would do to spook Blue Dog Democrats on healthcare ... he was right to be worried."
GOP strategist Roger Stone told Newsmax "the bloom is off the Obama rose."
Even Democratic strategist James Carville says the results show the GOP is “all gassed up” and suggests the Republican sweep may undermine Obama’s legislative agenda, including his healthcare reform plans.
According to Fox News contributor and author****Morris, the result in New Jersey is "astonishing in a core Democratic state."
"It shows the apathy of the Democratic base, the erosion of the Democratic base, and the intensity of the Republican electorate," he told Newsmax.
With nearly all votes recorded, GOP challenger Chris Christie, 47, a former corruption-busting attorney general, becomes the first Republican in a dozen years to seize a statewide office in New Jersey.
Christie was declared the winner with 49 percent of the vote to Corzine's 45 percent. Corzine's defeat marked only the third time in the past 60 years that a governor in the Garden State lost re-election after only serving a single term.
Morris predicted, however, that it is the GOP sweep in Virginia of the Old Dominion's top three offices – governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general – that will have an even bigger impact on the nation's debate over healthcare and energy cap-and-trade.
In Virginia, Republican Bob McDonnell won the election over Democrat Creigh Deeds by a whopping margin of about 20 points. Obama, who handily carried both New Jersey and Virginia in November, had campaigned for Deeds as well.
"That sends a message to the 83 Democratic congressmen, who come from red states that [Sen John] McCain carried, and the 20-plus Democratic senators who come from those states. And that message is you cannot count on Obama to carry you through. If you vote for a healthcare proposal that people don't like, you are on your own. And if Obama couldn't bail out Corzine in a blue state, and he couldn't bail out Deeds in a borderline red state, he can't bail you out."
That, Morris said, will have a "big effect" on the debate over the Obama administration's big-government legislative programs. He says the election's impact could be "dramatic" on the administration, and adds: "In retrospect this really could be seen as the high water mark of the Obama administration."
Morris said the results signal the entire health care package, not just the public-option aspect of it, is in trouble.
"Obama until now has not cared what the American people think. His whole approach has been just trust me, I won the election, and all the rest of you can get lost. I think after tonight he can't say that anymore." http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/obama_new_jersey_virginia/2009/11/03/281284.html

The media last night was full of newscasters talking about what the defeats meant to Obama and the message it was sending to Congress especially the Blue Dogs, and it was not only FOX.

Obama Election Defeat Termed 'Astonishing'